July 18, 1961 - Adolf Eichmann admitted at his trial today that the supplying of 150 skeletons of Jews for the skull collection of Heinrich Himmler (pictured) had been a matter referred to him. But it was a "very strange" request, "completely outside my sphere," Eichmann contended. "I was no dealer in skulls," Eichmann protested to his Israeli judges as he told of the request by Himmler, chief of the Nazi S.S. On trial for his role in the murder of millions of Jews in World War II, Eichmann was cross-examined for the eighth day. The prosecutor, Gideon Hausner, said it was a hobby of Himmler's to collect skulls for the Nazi "Ancestral Heritage Institute" at Strasbourg. Eichmann has maintained that all he did was transport Jews to concentration camps and that he had no responsibility for what happened to them in the camps. Mr. Hausner tried to destroy this claim by showing that high S.S. officials regarded Eichmann as a likely supplier of skeletons. "I only know that someone came and demanded skeletons or skulls, and I told him I was not a skull trader," Eichmann asserted.
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